Motivation

Chapter 7 - Loss

Matt pulled up to Freddy's, looking into the backseat. "You kids ready?" He asked them. They all cheered.

"Now, are you sure you'll be able to stay?" Asked Stephanie.

"I'm off work today. I promise." He said. He opened up the car door, holding it open for Stephanie as if he were a limo driver. The kids, meanwhile, were practically climbing over each other, all except Jake, who stayed huddled in the back.

"Hey buddy." Said Matt. "You don't want to go to your own party?" Jake shook hi head no.

"Come on, sweetie, it'll be fine." Stephanie took his hand, as Jake reluctantly got out of the car. "I think he's afraid of the animitronics." She whispered to Matt.

"Oh, in that case..." Matt squatted down to meet Jake's eyes. "You know what Mr. Smith told me?" Asked Matt. Jake shook his head. "Don't be afraid, they just want to say hi." Jake paused, but then nodded slowly and cautiously walked in. 

"You got that from Nate?" Asked Stephanie as they walked in.

"Yeah, he told me when we took Luke, Libby, and Peyton." Matt said.

"That Nate is a miracle worker, then." But then she paused randomly. "Matt, do you think there's something going on with Libby and the animitronics? She always seems so... entranced by them. Like they're hypnotizing her. She can't stay away from them."

"Maybe she just likes them a lot." Matt brushed it off, and so did Stephanie.

Later...

"Nate!" Matt waved over to him. Nate was watching the younger kids, although it was honestly overkill so Nate looked over to them. Steph and Nate went over to him to talk.

"Thanks for inviting Luke. I mean, he'll forget to say it, so I might as well say it for him." But as the parents casually chatted away, the kids were up to something far worse.

"Please let me out!" Jake was crying.

"Come on, don't you love the robots?!" Luke was laughing at him, while he and his four friends, including Peyton, held the door closed. Libby had gone to play with another girl that she met at the party, one of the older kids little sister.

"I'm not scared!" Jake tried to yell out. But the boys just kept laughing.

Meanwhile, Nate was talking to Matt and Steph. "Did you hear that my boss died?" He asked.

"What? No, what happened?" Asked Matt.

"Oh, turns out that he's actually had cancer for a long time. But anyway, word has gone down the wire that he left Freddy's to a friend of his. Apparently, he left his will to the last second, and left Freddy's to a guy from work." Nate explained. But Nate already had his suspicions. His boss had to have left the place to Phone Guy. He knew everything about the place, plus on the phone he talked like a caring father, so he had to be good with kids. And Matt was afraid of that too. "One of the guys told me that it's getting released at noon exactly. Something about the lawyers."

Matt checked with watch. 11:58. Oh no. He thought. "Stephanie, we have to talk." He grabbed her hand and practically dragged her away.

One of the boys holding the door finally fell, and Jake ran through the open door of the storage room, falling onto his face. Jake looked up in fear. All the boys were wearing masks. Peyton had a foxy mask, Luke had a Freddy mask, and the other boys were wearing Chica, Bonnie, and most disturbingly, a homemade mask that resembled the creepy puppet.

"Wow, your brother is kind of a baby, isn't he?" Asked one of the boys jokingly, while Jake sat crying.

"It's hilarious!" Laughed Luke.